英语文章翻译：Three Days to See

    All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year, sometimes as short as 24 hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed hero chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.

    Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings, what regrets?

    Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with gentleness, vigor and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the Epicurean motto of “Eat, drink, and be merry”. But most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.

    In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do.

    Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.

    The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.

    I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.

    我们大家都读过一些令人激动的故事，其中的主人公只有一个有限的时间和特定的时间去生活。有时，只要一年，有时短到24个小时。但我们总是有兴趣发现，注定的英雄是如何选择度过他的最后几天或他的最后时刻。当然，我说的是那些有选择的自由人，而不是那些活动范围受到严格限制的罪犯。

    这样的故事让我们思考，在类似的情况下，我们应该做什么。什么事件，什么经验，什么协会，我们应该成为那些最后几个小时作为凡人，什么遗憾？

    有时我想，把每一天都当作生命中的一天来度过每一天都是一个很好的生活准则。这样的态度会使生命的价值观更为强烈。我们每天都应该以优雅的姿态，充沛的精力和热情的欣赏，往往失去了前一段时间我们在无休止的日、月和年来。有一些人，当然，他们会采取“吃，喝，享乐主义的座右铭，而且是快乐的”。但绝大多数人还是会受到即将到来的死亡的惩罚。

    在故事中，注定的英雄通常在最后一刻被一些幸运的人物所拯救，但他的价值观几乎都改变了。他变得更加理解生命的意义和它永恒的精神价值。它经常被注意到，那些生活或生活在死亡的阴影中的人都会给他们所做的每一个事物带来甜美的甜美。

    然而，我们中的大多数人，把生命视为理所当然。我们知道有一天我们一定会死，但通常我们会在未来的日子里想象到这一天。当我们身体强壮时，死亡几乎是不可想象的。我们很少想到它。在一个无限的景色中，天舒展了。所以我们忙于琐事，几乎意识不到我们对生活的倦怠态度。

    同样的冷漠，我害怕，我们所有的官能和意识的运用。只有聋人欣赏者的听觉，只有盲人才能实现在视觉上的各种祝福。特别是这一观察适用于那些在成年生活中失去了视力和听力的人。但是那些从未遭受过视力或听力损伤的人却很少充分利用这些神圣的能力。他们的眼睛和耳朵模模糊糊地所有景点和声音，没有记录。这是一个同样的古老的故事，我们不知道我们有什么，直到我们失去它，没有意识到健康，直到我们生病。

    我常想，如果每个人在成年后的几天里都受到了失明和耳聋的打击，那将是一个福音。黑暗会使他更珍惜光明，寂静会教他快乐的声音。